Alea Aquarius

Marine mystery, adventure, and a wonderful friendship! For as long as she can remember, Alea has felt drawn to the sea. But she is also afraid of it because coming into contact with water could be fatal to her-or at least that's what Alea's mother told her foster mother before she disappeared. One day, Alea joins the Alpha Cru kids, who live on a sailboat and spend their time sailing the sea. During the first big storm, Alea is swept overboard. Instead of fear, she is filled with a profound calm, and feels totally safe in the water. She can swim like a fish...and she can also breathe like one. The ugly lumps behind her ears, which she has always hidden under her hair, have developed into gills, and those between her fingers are now webs. The secret she never knew she had is that she can turn into a mermaid . . . After that, nothing is the same again.

Alea Aquarius: The Colors of the Sea picks up right at the end of Book 1. Alea Aquarius has come to accept that she is a mermaid, and is more determined than ever to find out what happened to her parents and her people. Together with her newfound friends - Ben, Sammy, Tess, and Lennox - Alea follows a clue northward to the mysterious Loch Ness. Along the way, she discovers more about her past - and how she and Lennox are connected. Emotions play a central role in this volume, as Alea struggles with her feelings for Lennox. Is he a merperson like her, or perhaps even her brother? Ashore and away from the rest of the Alpha Cru, their adventures become more and more impetuous. Will they find the answers they seek at the bottom of Loch Ness - or are they walking into a trap? Having established the character's core motivations and traits in the first volume, Aleah Aquarius: The Colors of the Sea invites readers to explore the historical and cultural contours of Alea's undersea world alongside her. Alea's quest to learn the truth about her past and her people drives the narrative, as does her curiosity about Lennox. Pre-teen readers interested in their *potentially* romantic relationship will have plenty to chew on in this volume, but there are still plenty of shore-excursions, band performances, and silly Sammy jokes to keep Alea grounded with her shore-bound friends.

A powerful tingling sensation spread through her whole body, flooding from her head to her toes like a raging tsunami. She wished more than anything that the world beneath the waves would awaken to new life. Could she be the one to make this dream reality? Alea has a dream: she wants to bring all the mer-children scattered around the world back to the ocean. But how is she supposed to bring the extinct underwater world back to life if no one besides her and Lennox else can survive in the contaminated water? The Alpha Cru sets course for Iceland, where they have heard that there are still surviving merpeople living in the hot springs. There Alea wants to finally find her father – and the answers to all her pressing questions. Can Alea's father help her make her dream come true? Answers await in the third volume of the great Mer-girl Saga from bestselling author Tanya Stewner.